We wanted to talk about the cost of living in a way no one else was.

Jan 2023, Christmas a distant memory, a cold and depressing January beckoned as the Cost Of Living crisis ripped though the UK. Everyone else was doing functional value messaging, but on social we wanted to bring the Tesco cost of living messaging to life in a way that cut through the clutter.

So we partnered with TikToker and stand up comedian Milo McCabe, whose character Troy Hawke is famous for welcoming customers to various stores as a representative of the (utterly fictional) Greeters’ Guild.

Milo’s most popular TikTok up to that point was one he made outside a Tesco. We did it again, for real. Troy stood outside a Tesco welcoming people with some Clubcard RTBs carefully snuck into his routine. All shot live, with real people.

As one comment said “I didn’t realise this is an ad until the end”. The ultimate compliment. Sorry ads!

Live: January 15 to 31, 2023

SUCCESSES

• Instagram reel plays exceeded benchmarks by 3x 

• 70k likes on TikTok, with 5k shares

• People didn’t think it was an ad

Creatives Ciara Boyle & Chloe Neal.